Eat Drink Style Diana, Lisel & Martha - The Jewels of New York

I'd like to congratulate Diana & Lisel on landing a segment on Martha Stewarts show. You can check out the video on Martha's site. Long story short, Diana & Lisel were making cookies for a bake sale and the producers of Martha happened to be there too. They tasted their cookies and next thing they know, they are teaching Martha how to make cookies. Congrats on this awesome opportunity. Cookies are available here at The Jewels of New York. Thanks for reading.

Eat Drink Style The Lazy Ox Canteen, Little Tokyo Los Angeles - Josef Centeno: Our Neighborhood Chef

I'm going on my 5th year with this blog and in retrospect, I can't believe how writing about food has changed my life in numerous ways. The most important being the way I viewed other cultures, valued family and friendships and even finding love. I first started writing about places I grew up on and eventually made some dramatic turns. For me, knowing about music, food and art are great cultural values. So I made a point to approach everything with an open-mind and try anything and everything – like Bourdain, who I highly respect. When J and I met, we were eating a lot of street food and affordable ethnic food. Naturally, the more you enjoy food, the more likely you will move from low end to high end meals. We didn't really have our "nice" dinner experience together until we ate at A.O.C. We must have looked like beasts with hooves and fangs at the restaurant, but it was definitely different and out of our zone. From there, we just went on an haute cuisine binge. We followed chefs and were lured in by anyone with exquisite plating and Michelin ratings. It was good, but expensive. But after a while, we just got really tired of the richness and stuffiness that these restaurants are sometimes known for. And we found ourselves instead turning the culinary notch down to find something that was more in our league. After all, we are just normal people that live beyond their means ha.

Haute cuisine is by far a male-dominated arena. For me, there's a clear contrast in male and female chefs. Male chefs like Grant Achatz of Alinea, Ferran Adria of El Bulli and Thomas Keller of the French Laundry are a few examples of culinary mavens. A common style of the aforementioned chefs are small, yet intricate portions of food that create great negative space on $30-100 dinnerware. Some of these dishes, as small as a tablespoon, may contain as much as 25-30 different ingredients. Male chefs can be more aggressive with experimentation and it's clear that detail and aesthetics are what they shoot for. James Beard Award winner or not, the food started to feel more like art than edible substance.

On the other hand, female chefs can take on a more, well, feminine approach. Chefs like Suzanne Goin, Judy Rodgers and Alice Waters are famous for their usage of farm-fresh, local ingredients, but also the heart they put into their food. There's also Susan Feniger of Border Grill, Suzanne Tracht of Jar and Naomi Pomeroy of Beast in Portland to add to the list of notable female chefs. There's warmth and soul behind their dishes, rather than presentation - the main ingredient in our mother's cooking. Mom made you feel good when you were sick with the simplest of foods. And she always had your favorite dish ready when you came back on weekends during college. The detail is there but masked in sometimes larger portions of food that usually create joy in the stomach rather than tease the tongue.

From that distinction, Jeni and I found ourselves cooking a lot of food from the Zuni Cafe and Sunday Suppers cookbooks. Of the nearly 40 cookbooks we own, the pages on those books are the most dog-eared and tattered with food stains. The food is simple, but a sure win. I believed that female chefs cooked the most soulful food and we were convinced that this would be a consistent trend in the differentiation of male and female chefs.

It wasn't until we discovered the food of four chefs in Los Angeles that begun to think otherwise. I simply love the food by Palate's Octavio Becerra, Animal's John Shook and Vinny Dotolo and Josef Centeno of Opus, Lot 1 Cafe, Bar Celona and now, the Lazy Ox Canteen. These chefs have changed my view on how a male chef approaches food and have really made offals THE main event on a menu, even for people that shudder at the sight of tripe. I feel they have really turned the dial up on warmth and soul, and turned down the dial on aesthetics/minimalism. Some have received classic French training, some just surfaced through an honest passion for cooking. If you haven't met these chefs before, it's important to note that they are a bit guerrilla in their own ways and the main reason I respect them so much. It's not that I don't enjoy the conventional, usually anal and uptight, French-trained chef, it's just these guys seem more interesting to me for their bad-boy, across-the-grain and down-to-earth qualities. They are the kinda guys I can have a beer with. "Thomas Keller, you're up for the keg stand. Go man." Don't think so.

A little about these chefs...

Octavio Becerra studied photography at an art school and fell into cooking. He first started washing dishes and in no time, was discovered by Patina's Joachim Splichal - in fact, Becerra helped Splichal start the Patina Restaurant Group. If you saw Becerra about 20 years ago somewhere in a seedier area, you might expect a punch in the face from him or him to be rolling with a motorcycle crew. While most chefs wear the traditional white long-sleeve coat, neatly buttoned, Becerra is touting a short sleeve version of looks like prison pajamas. At someone his age, I find it amusing talking to him about electronic and indie music. Sometimes on Sundays, you may find him spinning on some tables with DJ Shadow or Cut Chemist. "Daniel Boulud on the wheels of steels." Ugh, no.

John Shook and Vinny Dotolo before the opening of their successful restaurant, Animal, were known as 2 Dudes Catering on the Food Network. I worked with a catering company for a bit and serviced a few gigs on my own before, and let me tell you, it is TOUGH to make sure that every bit of food goes out tasting the way you want it to. You are more worried about food going out in time while still hot. But these guys, completely impressed me. Their food was solid and not even showy. I walked by the kitchen one time and saw John wearing a band shirt, cut-off Dickies, skater shoes and a typical apron from a greasy short-order restaurant. If it weren't for the apron, these guys looked like your typical concert-attending, Miller High-Life drinking bud-smokers. Which is like awesome. "Jean Georges Vongerichten, your turn to take a bong rip." Vut?

And finally, there's Josef Centeno who first introduced his creativity and talent to Los Angeles at Opus with nicely-priced tasting menus. We started following him when he worked at Lot 1 Cafe in Echo Park and even heard that he would skate to work. His time at Lot 1 Cafe was short-lived and on his last day, we were one of six other couples that went to shake the good man's hand and bid farewell. One look at Centeno, you would have no idea he was classically-trained at CIA, worked under world-class chefs and probably the most down-to-earth, humble guys.

When word that Josef Centeno had resurfaced in Los Angeles again, J and I were stoked. He is now the executive chef of the Little Tokyo-based gastropub, Lazy Ox Canteen. And how awesome that this was another addition to the sprawling downtown area. I came here on a weekend and returned two days later with some friends for beer. On the first visit, we were surprised that Centeno recognized us. According to Jeni, he indeed had a following.

Lazy Ox Canteen is decorated with beautiful, horizontally-placed wood and handsome lighting. It is good enough to hold large groups of 6-8 without having to listen to loud, obnoxious chatter in places like Bottega Louie. And upon entry, the beer bar draws you in almost instantly. With a nice selection of craft beers on tap and in bottles, it's hard not to order some liquid before even seeing the menu. The trend now seems to be the importing of lesser-known Japanese beers like at Umami Burger. It used to be difficult to get Hitachino ale, but it's only a matter of time before Trader Joe's starts carrying it.

In addition to a standard list of items on a menu, Centeno offers at least 25+ more dishes as well as daily specials. I had a sore neck after switching between the menu and chalkboard for five minutes straight. Here's what we had.

I'm a huge fan of Belgian beer. Try the La Chouffe out for its rich, wholesome, floral taste.

Cod Brandade Fritters with Aioli
I had my first brandade experience at Chicago's Avec in 2008, and since then tried to find a comparable version. Brandade is served in a casserole dish typically, but Centeno's version makes it easier for you to eat it and continue to guzzling tasty beer. Funny thing is, I saw a Yelper complain that these were too fishy, when in fact, it was not. If anything, a little more wouldn't hurt. Another thing I forgot to mention was Centeno's skill in fried dishes - he is a master of batter. And in this recipe, some club soda is the added touch. Loved these.

Yellowtail with Avocado, Hash Browns and Creme Fraiche
A simple yet tasty mixture of things I usually enjoy separately. This dish takes me to Japan, Mexico, the Midwest and France all at the same time minus the jetlag. With my fork, I cut into all the ingredients and made sort of a miniature "open-faced" sandwich. This was great with a light lager beer.

Boccarones - Fried Sardines
A very tasty Sardine dish that does not taste like Sardines. Usually quite a salty fish, Centeno's batter makes it enjoyable. It was a bit oily though and needed a lot of beer to bring it down.

Ham & Eggs
A miniature version of the classic American breakfast with pork belly and quail egg instead. This was really fun to eat but I wish the quail egg was runnier and the pork belly more fork-tender.

Crispy Pig Ears with Lime & Radish
And I finally find one of my top three dishes of LOC. Pig ears are not a new thing to the Chinese. But in America, it's a highly sought-after dish at any fine-dining institution. I have finally found the perfect match for a nice, cold beer. Crispy, well-battered pig ears served with lime and thinly-sliced radish. Interesting enough, all my fave chefs have offered great pig ear dishes, including Octavio Becerra's pig ear tacos - yum. I've put Centeno's 'ear rings' at the first rank, followed shortly by Church & State's hot, gooey pig ears and Animal's version served with a runny egg. My friends and I should have ordered our own because we looked like lions feasting on a tiny baby zebra.

Khlii Moroccan-Style Beef Jerky with Fried Egg
I'm a firm believer that if you put a fried egg on anything, life is better. Even stacking a fried egg on top of another fried egg is nice. So with this dish, I ended up placing it in my top three. The combination of a smoky, crunchy jerky, runny egg, salsa verde and grilled bread is a unanimous winner. Again, my friends and I pretended to be unselfish and kept offering the final bite to each other. We were purely bullshitting each other.

Charred-Octopus with Lime Beans and Smoked Paprika
I learned in Hawaii that I'm an octopus's predator only on land. I rarely turn down any octopus dish now and Centeno's version was enjoyable. The subtle char of the grilled octopus, starchy beans, savory veggies and smoked paprika are having a great time in the hot tub. Smoked paprika is my favorite spice.

Grilled Tuna Collar
If you look at a fat man, two parts stick out the most - the double or triple chin and the belly. On most animals or fish, these are the best parts. Places like Hunan Restaurant in Rosemead offer a killer fish head and collar dish that will make you look at the head differently. I highly recommend trying the collar of any fish, it's great. Centeno's comes simply grilled but the addition of lentils and lima beans makes this one very homey meal. We turned this thing into a fossil.

I think this is the first time I enjoyed a gastropub in a while. At the Lazy Ox Canteen, I think Centeno is really showing his creativity and talents, the way he intended to. He is a classically trained chef, but to me, I see a normal, chill guy that cooks food that is homey, approachable and interesting. The prices here are a bit high and I walked out both times feeling super guilty about the bill, but I expect that out of most restaurants that are opening up in the Downtown Los Angeles culinary/cocktail movement. Or maybe it's simply my fault that I have a very, very, very hard time sticking to three dishes and one beer at this particular gastropub. Thanks for reading.

***Note
On Mondays, wine bottles are half price – call for the times. And from 5-7 pm everyday, there are five dishes nicely priced at $5. Enjoy.

Lazy Ox Canteen
241 San Pedro Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-5299
www.lazyoxcanteen.com

Eat Drink Style La Descarga, Koreatown - Scenes from La Descarga's 1st Anniversary

On Wednesday, J and I stopped by La Descarga's 1st anniversary party and it was a full house. For those that haven't been, rather than a cocktail bar, La Descarga promises an experience the second Charles the doorman walks you in. From there, you are greeted by a hostess and led through what appears to be a closet. Once you walk in, you're immediately transported to a place known as Havana, Cuba. A live band is in effect, a woman dances along the railing to the music and the cocktails are being shaken. In the back room, you can have one of their many choices in cigars to go with your shot of fine, Central American rum. What I love about this place is that it is high energy and really keeps you on your feet. The bartenders, Steve Livigni, Kenny Arbuckle and Pablo Moix are well-versed in the art of the cocktail and enjoy guessing what you like to drink. The drinks here are made with fine sugar, not simple syrup – so there is no watering down of the spirit.

I love this place. Happy 1st anniversary to the people of La Descarga. You can see photographs I took of Steve Livigni and Kenny Arbuckle in my Cocktail Revival project. Thanks for reading.

Eat Drink Style HObama and The Campaign for Free Food

The satirical publication, The Onion, was quite accurate in describing Obama's victory as President of the United States...

"Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job."

Without a doubt. Obama gets to tackle the recession due to the national debt, Iraq, Israeli's & Palestinians, the environment, Guantanamo Bay, Mexico's drug war and health care, just to name a few. Quite a load for anyone to take. But Obama has been vocal about change and hope throughout his campaign for the Democratic seat and we believe that it will happen. This is a hard time for him and us as the American people. With the recession going on, we have to cut back on everything. We can't go out as much, we have to conserve resources and sadly, we have to cut back on the amount we eat outside. Harsh. Especially for those who love to eat. That means you, otherwise you wouldn't be on this site. But you know what,

(Read the following paragraph with MLK's intense, prolific oration style.)

... I, HObama (my last name is Ho), of ED&BM, will march side by side with Obama as proud Americans in our own campaign. A campaign that will still provide us with sustenance. A campaign that will allow us to enjoy the thing we like to do most, which is to eat, and not dent the bank account while doing it. Obama has an economic plan, and I, have a gastronomic plan.

This is a campaign for... FREE FOOD!

(Applause and tears of joy!)

Yes, my fellow Americans and foreign people that stumble upon my site by accident and immediately hit the BACK button, I've provided a list of the best ways for you to get free food during this recession without lowering your social status. It will not be easy, but you will be rewarded. Shall we enjoy the beauty of $free.99?

1. Costco Frozen Food
Costco, the freak of nature store that directly reflects the way Americans over-consume. Things here are sold in obnoxious proportions and a lot of times people are stuck deciding if it will benefit them or cause more problems. Does everyone really need the 25 gallon "Family Pak" of extra virgin olive oil? Not unless you're Rachael Ray. If you can endure the parking lot drama, SUV-sized shopping carts, saying 'excuse me' about 100 x's, then get ready to part the bushes and discover the frozen-food goldmine. On weekends, and sometimes weekdays when business is slow, you'll see the Microwave Maidens luring customers with wafts of freshly baked food and sounds of microwave timers going off. *Beep* Beep* Low and behold, le coleccion de calorie. Have a 1/2 portion of a pepperoni bagel bite, enjoy a soggy Tyson chicken tender, try the spinach quiche or if you're lucky enough, TGIF Jose Cuervo Tequila/Lime wings. Gross, but all for free! After you are done, pretend to go looking for something down the aisle and make a quick turn around the fridges back to the Microwave Maiden of your choice and say something like:

"That last piece I got was still frozen in the middle."
"May I have one for my (insert relative) to try?"
"I just want to try one more and make sure I really do like it. And then I'll buy it. I'm a man of my word."

But beware, those ladies will remember you and give you an evil eye. So don't be too greedy. I've actually seen this man get called out for free-loading. "Sir, the packages are RIGHT BEHIND me in the freezer for the low cost of $13.73." I love how Costco prices their items before tax. And the best part of Costco, there's more than one Microwave Maiden at work. I knew these guys once in college that would go once a month at around 11 am and find their lunch. By 12 pm, they've eaten a bit of everything and are fully content. How did I know about these poor bastards? I was one of them.

2. Wine Shops with Olive Oil Tastings
This one is a kill-two-stones-with-one-bird situation. You go in and pretend you are looking for a bottle for tonight's date, which is a complete lie – because if you're following the HOBama Plan you're way too poor to go on a date. Slowly edge over to the olive oil section. More than likely, there will be cubed french bread ready at your disposal. Take a piece of bread and dip it into your olive oil of choice. Something to note, the greener it is, the less pressed it is – and expect some major grassiness and bitterness. If an employee is nearby, nod your head and moan your approval for it and even ask a nonsense question like, "At what temperature are olives best pressed in the regions of Italy?" And then kindly ask if there is any wine for you to taste, to wash down all that edible lotion. Unfortunately, these finely pressed olive oils aren't cheap. You're looking upwards of $20 for an average bottle. I figure if you eat about 50 pieces of cubed bread, you've pretty much eaten a 6" sandwich with olive oil as your filling. But this part of the HObama plan can make you quite ill, and you may want to find the nearest trash can. Moderation, my people!

3. Tortilla Chips in Mexican Restaurants
There's this 'mexican' restaurant in WeHo that I forget the name of. People, please help HObama. Here, the waiters bark out their orders in some sort of harmony and serve up strong margaritas. But the goldmine lies right in the middle of the restaurant – a giant bucket of tortilla chips. If you can somehow blend in with a bunch of drunks during their company happy hour, you will be rewarded. Eat as many as you can, until your jaw falls off or until you go home with the wasted just-fresh-out-of-college receptionist.

4. Office Meetings
Sometimes you're just not important enough to be in that bigwig meeting in your company. The kind with people so high up in the company their heads are in the clouds. The kind that has a whole cart full of refreshments and smorgasbord of caloric delight. Bagels with 4 types of cream cheese, seedless fruit, well-endowed sandwiches, non-olive garden pasta and expensive desserts. This is all very painful to deal with especially when you're slurping your $.99 Kimchi Ramen Bowl that is so loaded with MSG, causing your throat to close up. *Gasp* But am i not The HObama, the one who will help you through this recession. Yes we can. Grab your Blackberry, a pen, yellow notepad and tuck your shirt into them khakis. If you don't have a blackberry, go find one of those bubblegum cellphone cases at the market. Find the meeting with the best food and walk in. If you're already late, walk in with head focused on the Blackberry. Careful not to make eye contact because you can blow your cover. Tell them you're sorry you're late and pretend you're surprised by the food on the table. "Ooh. My favorite." Grab a big plate and find the seat in the back of the room. Then, go to the ringtone menu in your phone about 15 mins into the meeting, and make that shit ring LOUD as though you got a call. You pick it up right away and excuse yourself from the meeting and give yourself a high-5 because you just scored some goodies. Works every time.

5. Trader Joe's
Head straight for the back and look for the happy, Hawaiian-shirted employee behind the sneeze guard. Why yes, I would like to try some of that Fat-free Green Tea Hibiscus Peach Tea you're serving. Along with the macrobiotic sun dried tomato garlic hummus with free-range rosemary-raisin pita bread. You can always count on TJ's to offer the world's strangest pairings. I give them a FAIL for the pairings but I give them a thumbs up for helping me live another day w/ their organic, macrobiotic, free-range, fat-free products.

6. Marathons
Find those old, 1986 velcro Pro Wings and get ready to work for your free food. This will take some work but you'll feel good about it. You'll need a ID number so grab an 8.5 x 11 paper and sharpie and make up some arbitrary number like '916' which spells 'pig' in the Motorola Pager code. Because that's what you are – a pig. Ok, race is beginning. Line up in the back unless you want to get run over by the Kenyans. Because you're not here to top them, you are a man on your own mission. On your mark, get set, GOOOOOOOOOOOO to the nearest lady handing out any of those trail snack/energy bar booths. Not only will those energy bars fill you up, you'll have the hardest time chewing it b/c it's made of rubber and bark. You'll be running down the streets looking like a chipmunk, but it's sooooo good for you. You'll need some Gatorade which will be everywhere. Don't worry about coming in last or being spanked by the dog with 2 front legs and wheelbarrow as hind legs (saw this in China, for real). You're a winner today regardless because you got free energy snacks. If the next marathon is for the opposite sex only, plan accordingly with props and duct tape.

7. Farmer's Markets
This is easy. It's like Souplantation, but like, delicious. I love the Hollywood farmer's market the most – probably the largest I've seen. There's the oyster man, pistachio man, heirloom tomato lady – anything you want. just ask the magic question... "how do these taste?" Grab a sample of everything you'd like to try, but don't eat it, just thank the nice vendors and toss it in your bag. Then head over to the sidewalk and compile your super salad. You are frugal and smart because you brought your own bowl w/ some olive oil and vinegar in your backpack. Voila, a free salad.

8. Halloween
Why hello there? What are YOU dressed up as for Halloween? Hungry. Don't even bother putting on an outfit. It's obvious why you're there because you are two decades too late for this fat-enhancing custom. People most likely will give you whatever you want and immediately shut the door because in their book, you are insane. You're a 45-year old kid that still lives with his mom that does your laundry and microwaves your Dinty Moore for you, while you find your soul mate in Warcraft chat rooms. (JK, John. not) You'll get the super sized candies – good stuff like 100 Grand, Caramello and Whoppers. Refuse those yellow butterscotch candies no one ever eats. Why does Brach's even make those any more? And like the marathon, you don't need to dress up, because you're clearly a winner – two pails filled to the brim with candy, and none for mom.

9. Business Card Fishbowls
2 out of 10 restaurants you eat at will probably have one of these next to those $.25 candy dispensers. It screams, "Drop your business card for a chance to win a free lunch!" Hey doesn't hurt. THEN, the miracle happens. You're at work sending out YouTube links and all of a sudden, the phone rings. "Congratulations, (insert your name). We've selected you for the free lunch sweepstakes. How does it feel? When would you like to come in for your free lunch?" Well as the saying goes, "there's no such thing as a free lunch." Rightfully so, because when you show up to eat, you're not eating alone. You're eating w/ some slimeball-sales-person with claws and hooves, dressed in shirt & clip-on tie. Think of him as a used-car salesman on his lunch break. He may sell you financial services, timeshare in a place like San Bernardino or something life-changing like mailbox insurance. But if you have adapted the art of pretending like you're listening and timing your head nods perfectly, you can phase out Sam the Slimeball and actually enjoy your lunch. And maybe even pawn off some of that $.25 candy, you slimeball.

10. Asian Markets like 99 Ranch
Like Costco but with really bad driving/parking, they have weekend giveaways too. You will usually find the freebies in the very back by the meat department since the aisles are the widest there. I actually look forward to their goods because some of it is quite delicious. You'll most likely see some sort of noodle served in tiny styrofoam cups with a light soy sauce broth. They give you these tiny tiny forks to use but I would actually like to see some miniature chopsticks – could be fun and messy! Then you move on to the dumpling lady serving boiled goodness . How about the lady serving up halved fish or meatballs? They give you a toothpick to take ONE, but I like to make my own Asian shishkabob by stabbing through 5-6 of those – tasty. Now it's time for dessert, make your way to the fruit wafers that come in those tin containers – childhood treat. Wash it all down with 5-6 types of high-fructose corn syrup yogurt drinks... mmm tasty. I like the peach one. Now repeat 4-5 times. Don't forget your facial sun visor/welding mask as it adds to the experience and hides the shame.

11. The Gold Room of Echo Park
Have you ever time traveled? I have. Sometimes unknowingly after having a little too much to drink. But if you want to time travel to Mexico come here. On the outside, it looks like a bar you would pass by normally, but once you walk in, bam, you are in Mexico. Awesome. The beauty of The Gold Room is the symbiosis between ultra-cool skinny-boy hipsters and the rancheros. They switch between latino and non-latino music, which is cool. Sorry, Creed and Akon not allowed. If you don't feel like dancing, take a seat up at the bar and do what you do best. But then something strange happens. One of the many large-bosomed bartenders will approach you slowly. You can't tell what she is holding in her hand b/c of the blacklights that are on. But it appears to be.... tacos. It's like she came over to pat you on the back for the excellent drinking you've been doing. How many times have you been rewarded for drinking? Wow, free beef tacos and peanuts. I have not had these myself, but my friends have. While they are nothing to write home about, a little power snack with your $1 tequila makes the belly and wallet happy.

12. The Coastline
On the show Lost, I am actually surprised everyone is alive on that show and how they are always looking good. Because you know what, I really don't know what they can survive on besides coconuts, insects and the occasional mammal on the loose. Most people would perish, except for the Asians who will just about eat anything. I remember seeing one episode in the early seasons, where the Korean guy, Jin, is off by the rocks finding lunch. I started laughing because I knew he had his ban chan ready to go with the sea urchin, mussels and oysters he was foraging. While Jack and Sawyer are busy restructuring each other's facial structures over Kate, he's over by the rocks rolling his eyes back and moaning with gastronomic satisfaction. Getting stuck on an island is anything but a nightmare considering it is a seafood buffet. And it's not called Todai. For this part of the HObama plan, one must work for to find the fruits of the sea. Go to your local beach or pier and bring a spear, pliers and shuckers. To make it even more interesting, wear a loin cloth to get that prehistoric, caveman feel. You're going to look crazy anyway, so might as well go 110%. Before you jump in the water, yell at people with incomprehensible gibberish. The first caveman to find an oyster, man, how hungry must he have been. Archaeologists have even discovered oyster shell piles as high as 3 stories! Now that's a party. Unlike Costco and Halloween options, this one is actually good for you albeit difficult. And you could care less about the rescue plane circling your island.

This is a democracy, and I would like to add more to the HObama plan. How else can we maximize eating during this recession? Thanks for reading, and God bless the hungry American people.

Eat Drink Style The Food Pyramid. By Sriracha.

Yes.

Eat Drink Style The Bottle-of-Wine Glass by Vat19.com

Valentine's Day is coming up. When you're having that candlelit dinner, bring this out – the Bottle-of-Wine Glass. It'll tell your loved one a lot about yourself:

A. You're a complete alcoholic.
B. You're a selfish bastard.
C. You have other interests besides eating.
D. All of the above.

This is also the perfect glass for a party – but you hate everyone there! Find this here.

Eat Drink Style Cookbook, Echo Park - A Unique Concept for a Quaint Neighborhood Grocery Shop

The Echo Park I first stepped into during the 1980s was very different from what you see now. I remember sitting in my mom's 2-door Toyota Corolla sans A/C (just to give you an old-school reference), slowly crawling up the steep hills to visit her great uncle. The streets were cracked, walls were tagged up and teenagers "kicked it" out by their cars with loud, bassy music. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't the most ideal neighborhood. In fact, our visits there were short and fueled with a purpose. We often urged our mom to drive through the streets a bit faster. To some people in the neighborhood, this Chinese family really had no business hanging out in their area. A friend of mine who grew up here as a teen recalled it a tough and cautious time in Echo Park – he is Chicano.

Echo Park was once the center of the film industry before it moved to Hollywood before WWI. But in the 1970s and 1980s, it became a largely Latino and Chicano neighborhood with a few sprinkles of Chinese, Filipinos and Vietnamese. With a large population of immigrants in an impoverished area, there's bound to be a large presence of gang and drug activity. Echo Park had quickly earned its name as a gang city.

But things changed after 2000, as a lot of musicians and artists started moving into Echo Park because Silver Lake, Los Feliz and Atwater Village were experiencing a high demand and increased real estate value. As a result, the rent in Echo Park began to increase as well. This is both a fortunate and unfortunate situation for the people of Echo Park. Although the gang and drug violence decreased substantially, this movement also affected hard-working Latino families, hippies, blue-collar workers, musicians and artists that had nothing to do with violence. Some have lived in the same residence for decades and were now forced to pack up their bags and move South towards the Rampart area and even East LA. Naturally, there is resentment for the gentrification. To this day, there are still signs of the "old" Echo Park, with the occasional shooting and "homeboy" meeting outside a liquor store. If you've been to the Echo Park grocery store on Echo Park/Duane or Chango on Echo Park/Delta, you're standing on what was once a big gangster hangout.

Before moving to Silver Lake, I had checked out a few places in Echo Park as I was one of the many that wanted to move into Silver Lake, but could not afford it. Jeni had moved there and I was getting tired of driving all the way from West LA to see her. I love Echo Park though. It feels rich in diversity and has a lot of character to it. Even with the tagged up walls and pot-hole ridden streets, it is a real icon of what urban Los Angeles "is". What's interesting is that Echo Park still maintains a very neighborhood-like vibe. With exception to a Walgreens, three or four fast food chains, American Apparel and an Autozone, the area is still dominated by mom and pop shops along Sunset Blvd. – old antique and furniture stores, bargain stores, boutiques, eateries and small grocery stores. A lot of the residents are of Latino heritage and many rely on their feet, bicycles and buses to get around.

On Echo Park Avenue, the once gang-ridden area has become sort of its own hipster street with a salon, coffee shop, pet store and various boutiques. I've driven by so many times with Jeni and asked her why there weren't more small businesses. The area was obviously very chill and low-key – it really just needed a restaurant or bar. We had even dreamed of running a noodle joint in the area but that quickly dissipated. I knew someday something interesting would be opened up on the block of Echo Park Avenue and Delta.

And then that's when we heard about Cookbook, a unique concept by Marta Teegen and Robert Stelzner. Every small neighborhood has a grocery store, but Teegen and Stelzner's offers responsibly grown organic produce and even offers food cooked fresh daily. The food itself comes with purpose. As you may get a hint from the name, Cookbook offers dishes each week from a different featured cookbook. For the hipsters that live off Echo Park Avenue, finally... a place to pick up quality goods and even a bite to eat when they want a break from writing their screenplays or figuring out that one song that will grant them a beeline to the Echoplex stage.

A lot of good things happened last year for the residents of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village and Echo Park. Especially if you're one that adores food. You've got McCall's - a husband and wife-run meat and fish shop that has everything you'll need. You've got the Spice Station - an amazing shop that basically bridges you to spices from every possible country. Even herbs and spices from Space! You've got Jason Kim's Forage - the hip cafeteria that serves comfort food and side dishes for a great price. And now you've got Cookbook, your everyday grocery store that carries great butter, milk, cheese and bread. You can easily plan your whole dinner for the evening without having to ride your "fixie bike" more than 2 miles.

The idea for Cookbook didn't happen overnight. It's actually been 'baking' for quite a while. Rewind back some 12 years. Marta Teegen finds herself leaving a PhD program in Art History to study Politics. That eventually fell through after 7 years and she remembered what it was she always enjoyed being around: food. Growing up on a farm was one thing she knew well and for some time, her father's family had supplied tomatoes to the Campbell's soup people. She then enrolled at the New School of Cooking in Culver City for the chefs training program and mixed both her love for cooking and farming into a business that offered kitchen and garden design, known as Homegrown LA. And if this story couldn't get any better, Teegen published her first book in April 2010, titled Homegrown A Growing Guide for Creating a Cook's Garden. And here we are at her latest venture, Cookbook LA, which took them nearly 3 years of waiting to secure. Hang on, let's all download that information slowly.

Jeni and I dropped by on an early Saturday morning to check out Cookbook. We were stoked to see a food-related boutique on that street finally. We immediately felt as though we were in San Francisco. Big windows, wooden benches and a slightly weathered look – it was all very welcoming. Those that have a love for Tartine Bakery know what I mean.

Right when you walk in, you're flanked with today's farmer's market vegetables that Marta and Robert sometimes handpick. To the right, you can hear the buzzing from the fridge that holds some of the best milk I've tasted. It's straight up cream! The butter and cheese are very nice as well. To the left, you've got your dried goods including pasta and my favorite roasted piquillo peppers. And straight ahead, you've got the food from the featured cookbook.

This isn't just your standard bread. This is called "Amazing" bread and its baked by a place called Bread Lounge in Downtown LA. Teegen is a woman with patience, as this bread took her nearly 5 months to find. We tried the olive bread out and it is some of the best I've eaten in Los Angeles. Baked beautifully but still moist, almost damp, inside. The olives are not too salty either. I think we ended up taking home 4 pieces of bread.

We came to Cookbook the week they were featuring a 5-book series called Canal House Cooking, which I had never heard of. But we took at the food in the display case and knew it was totally our style of food we liked to eat – much like Forage. Teegen is also good friends with Chef Erin Eastland of Cube (aka Divine Pasta Co.) on La Brea and prepares a lot of the food freshly in their kitchen.

Roasted Vegetable Medley

Cabbage Slaw with Bacon and Red Wine

Pesto Pasta with Pecans and Parsley

Beef & Pork Meatballs

Cookbook Roast Chicken

Sauteed Zuccini and Feta Cheese

Roast Garlic with Balsamic Vinegar

This was just one week of food. Cookbook has been open since September and I feel as though I should walk in weekly just to see what they're featuring. I love that they keep things interesting with a different cookbook each time. I believe the week after we had photographed the store, they were going to try out some Asian food which I'd be interesting in trying.

Teegen and Stelzner's story is yet another story of people that followed their passion for food and we wish them the best luck. We are truly stoked to see a food-related boutique on that street finally. That block on Echo Park Avenue and Delta Street for some reason, feels more complete. The amount of skinny hipsters have not decreased since Cookbook's debut, but at least they can't complain about being so stylishly anorexic. Now, if only there was a place to grab a beer or cocktail. Thanks for reading.

*Note: Cookbook is in the process of developing a range of food-related classes, tastings, and readings, including kitchen garden basics, still life painting, ikebana, food history, backyard baking, and more!

Cookbook LA
1549 Echo Park Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 250-1900
www.cookbookla.com